A Nightmarish Rejection
by Blazingstar of ThunderClan
Summary: When Jayfeather has a bad dream, there's only one she-cat who can comfort him... and then hurt him. One-sided unrequited JayXCinder, one-sided CinderXLion.


**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR POWER OF THREE AND THE FOURTH APPRENTICE. This takes place in The Fourth Apprentice, when Lionblaze and Dovepaw are gone, and Jayfeather's worried about whether or not they'll come back. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors or anything else, and I am not making any money off this story. **

Jayfeather's gray pelt seemed to melt into the darkness like water as he paced along the side of the lake. The air feeling bitterly cold against his fur, he finally sat on his haunches with a sigh and stared at the dark waves swirling in front of him. The dim moonlight reflected off the cold water, causing it to shine a dull silver in some places.

_What if they don't come back? _Jayfeather thought worriedly_. _He would never be able to fulfill the prophecy on his own. They _had _to come back. StarClan couldn't let them die. So why was he so worried?

Sighing again, he simply stared blankly at the somewhat silver water. Then something caught his eye: a flash of ginger fur that he recognized immediately, struggling in the waves.

Alarmed, Jayfeather sprang onto his feet. "Lionblaze!" He ran away in a panic and grabbed a nearby stick in his jaws. Running back as fast as his limbs would carry him, he lowered it into the water. "Grab onto this!"

Lionblaze swam as strongly as he could through the crashing waves and dug his claws into the stick while Jayfeather tried to haul it back out of the water. After a small struggle, he finally pulled his dripping wet brother back onto shore.

"Are you okay?" Jayfeather gasped as relief flooded through him.

Lionblaze's chest heaved grotesquely, and he vomited a puddle of water. "Dovepaw," he croaked in exhaustion, his glazed eyes searching the lake.

"What?" Jayfeather followed the tom's gaze and noticed a patch of white fur being battered by the waves. "Dovepaw!" Before he could rush forward to try and help the third of the Three, her body was swallowed by the hungry water.

"No! Dovepaw! Lionblaze, we have to help her!" He turned to his brother, his breath catching when he realized that the tom wasn't breathing. "Lionblaze." He pressed his nose into his brother's broad shoulder. "Lionblaze, please. Get up. We have to help Dovepaw."

Anger and grief swelled up inside Jayfeather as he recognized the scent of death that clung to his brother's pelt.

Grasping at the chance to save the other drowning cat, he roughly pushed his emotions aside, lifted his head, and frantically raked his eyes over the dark water, which had lost its silver light. Horror washed over him when there was no trace of the young apprentice.

Lowering his head in mourning, Jayfeather sent a silent cry to StarClan: _How could you do this to me?_

Now the prophecy would never be fulfilled...

* * *

Jayfeather woke with a start, shaken from his nightmare. Blind once again, he sighed in relief. It had all been a dream. But was it also a sign from StarClan?

Disturbed, he drowsily stood up and padded out of his den. No cat stirred, so it must have been the middle of the night.

He would never be able to fall back asleep, but for once, he didn't want to be alone. He wanted to talk to somebody. But who could keep him company at this time? Lionblaze and Dovepaw weren't around, and Leafpool was a warrior now...

"Jayfeather?" The soft mew startled him; he had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed a cat approaching him.

He recognized the she-cat's familiar voice and scent. "Cinderheart."

"Um, sorry if I'm distubing you, but I heard you get up, and I wanted to see what was wrong." Concern was rolling off her.

Jayfeather was shocked when his ears began to grow hot, and shyness began to flow into him. He didn't understand. What was there to be embarassed about? "You're not bothering me. It's just... I had a really bad dream, and I can't fall back asleep," he admitted.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently.

Surprised, he flicked his tail for her to follow and quietly led her into his den. "I think I do."

"What was it about?" she asked, laying down on the cold floor.

"Well... I was by the lake..."

"Jayfeather, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No, no, I want to. I was by the lake, and... Lionblaze was drowning. When I pulled him out, he wasn't breathing, and... he died." He decided to leave out the part about Dovepaw, because as far as Cinderheart knew, Dovepaw and Jayfeather didn't have any special connection, so she'd probably wonder why he was dreaming about her.

He was surprised when Cinderheart got up and sat right beside him, so that their pelts were brushing. "It's okay, Jayfeather. That'll never happen; StarClan couldn't possibly want that to be Lionblaze's fate."

He gratefully leaned against her. "I sure hope not. But... there's something else bothering me, too."

He felt her gaze on his pelt. "What?"

Once again, his ears grew hot. "I... I've never felt this way before." He stared down blindly at his paws.

Curiosity radiated from her. "Felt what way?"

He hoped that the Cinderpelt in her would come out, and she would be able to tell him what was wrong with him. "Lately, I've been feeling... unusual. My heart has been fluttering, my ears have been growing hot, I've been getting nervous, my paws have been itching, I've been embarassed and shy... I think I'm sick, but Leafpool never taught me about anything with these kinds of symptoms."

"When do you feel like this?" she asked, amused.

He thought. To be honest with himself, he felt like that right now. "When I'm around... a certain she-cat."

Her amusement slammed into him so strongly that it made him flinch. "I think you're in love, Jayfeather."

"What?" He was shocked. He'd actually thought for a moment that the Cinderpelt in her had begun to show itself!

She purred. "It's been so obvious, Jayfeather. Every time I've see you lately, you've seemed distracted and shy. So who's the lucky she-cat?" She gasped before he could answer. "I know! It's Hazeltail, isn't it? She had a crush on you before you became the medicine cat apprentice."

_Hazeltail? _He pushed that thought aside. "No, it's not Hazeltail."

"Then who is it?"

He hesitated. "It's... it's you."

This time, it wan't amusement that slammed into him. It was shock. "You... you're in love with _me_?"

"I didn't say that! _You_ said that," he hissed in his own defense. "I don't know what's wrong with me, but... I really like you."

She stood up and turned her back on him, staring at the ground. "I'm sorry, Jayfeather. I love you, but not in that way. You're like a brother to me, and... I'm in love with Lionblaze."

"Cinderheart, please-"

She ran out of his den before he could say any more, leaving him sitting alone in the darkness, more confused than he had ever been in his life. She had rejected him.

Sighing, Jayfeather flopped down into nest and closed his blind blue eyes. He just wanted to forget that all this had happened. Besides, he was a medicine cat; he wasn't allowed to be in _love_.

But that couldn't stop his heart from feeling.

**I'm a major CinderXJay shipper, but there's too much sappy romance about them out there, don't you think? So, I wrote this to give you girls/guys something a little different. I honestly think its the best one-shot I've written so far. Please review!**

**~Blazingstar**


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